Press Releases
Released on September 28, 2007
RECOVERY CORPS AWARDS $1 MILLION TO UNITED METHODIST LOUISIANA CONFERENCE FOR HOME REPAIR IN SOUTH LOUISIANA
Baton Rouge, LA. - The Louisiana Family Recovery Corps announced today that it has awarded $1 million to the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church for home repairs and assistance with household appliances and furniture for disaster-affected households in Calcasieu, Cameron, Terrebonne and Vermilion parishes.
More than 200,000 homes were destroyed in Louisiana alone on Aug. 29, 2005, by Hurricane Katrina and on Sept. 24, 2005, by Hurricane Rita. Nearly 1,500 people died, and more than half a million Louisianans were displaced. Earlier this year, the Recovery Corps awarded nearly $800,000 to the United Methodist Committee on Relief, or UMCOR, for home repairs in Calcasieu and Orleans parishes. A total of nearly $5 million has been allocated by the Recovery Corps this year to organizations across South Louisiana for home repairs, fair housing awareness, landlord and homeowner education and housing search and assistance.
With Recovery Corps funding, the Louisiana Annual Conference will identify a minimum of 60 households currently backlogged in the case management system that require financial assistance in repairing their hurricane-damaged homes and equipping their homes with furniture or appliances. Each qualified household can receive up to $15,000 for building materials and minor repairs; major appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, washers and dryers; and furniture.
"Now, two years after the devastating storms of 2005, many residents are still trying to rebuild their homes and re-establish their lives. The investment in Louisiana's disaster-impacted families through the United Methodist Louisiana Annual Conference for home repairs and household appliances is one other way the Recovery Corps is replenishing what Hurricanes Katrina and Rita took from our families. These needs aren't being met by insurance and many other programs, so continued investments in those needs are critical to our ongoing recovery," said Raymond A. Jetson, chief executive officer of the Recovery Corps.
"We are very excited that the Louisiana Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps could partner on home repair in South Louisiana. We are working as quickly as we can to get families that are backlogged in our system back in their homes where they belong. The hurricanes of 2005 dealt quite a blow to our state and a more complete recovery will require collaboration among local, statewide and faith-based entities. Our partnership with the Recovery Corps will make a real difference in the lives of families," said Rev. Darryl Allen Tate, executive director of the United Methodist Church's Louisiana Annual Conference Storm Recovery Center.
Primary funding for the Recovery Corps award comes from federal Social Service Block Grants, which are administered by the Louisiana Department of Social Services.
